Buy an iPad 1

Save the cash for other expenses...

So having made up my mind, I'm tempted to go wait in the cold tonight/tomorrow morning (4AM should legitimately still be called tonight), but I've got a phone interview for grad school later that day.

Sadly, it's unlikely they'll have stock on Saturday (it's possible they get a shipment in Friday, but I wouldn't bet on it), so I'm SOL until next Tuesday at the earliest.

Yes, perhaps, as a (hopefully) soon to be grad student, I should save my money and use it for, say, gas or textbooks. But having patiently avoided buying the original iPad, I figure it's finally time to give in to temptation. (I'm not someone who makes Pro/Con lists for any purchase; when I started making one in the run-up to launch day that was when I knew I'd buy the thing)

Having read some of the other posts, it's tempting to continue to wait and decide that the "ooh, shiny" feeling will eventually wear itself out. That said, I've really missed out on being able to use apps like Zite and Flipboard. As a Pol Sci major with an obsession for knowledge, I spend more time each day reading the news on my desktop or iPhone than the average American does watching TV. For that reason alone it's a solid buy.

Secondly, I do not want to spend $1200 on a big TV. I'm perfectly content to watch movies & TV on a small screen, and the iPad is a nice compromise. (Any thoughts/comments on this use case would be welcomed)

Finally, there are just certain apps that, while they run on my iPhone, the iPad version is just a totally different experience. For an amateur astronomer, the addition of the gyro means the iPad version of Star Walk will work beautifully. Same thing with chess, Shredder/Scrabble works on my iPhone, but an iPad actually feels like playing on a board. Similarly, GoodReader is available for my iPhone but it just doesn't have the screen size for me to make any serious headway through a 50 page journal article (short PDFs are okay for my G2 Kindle, but it's a hassle to convert them, to say the least).

So yes, while it's a "Want" rather than a "need" item, the "ooh, shiny" actually has some solid use cases behind it.

I'd really appreciate feedback from current iPad owners (I'm already set on 3G (did I mention I like to read the news all the time) 64 GB (I'd really like to be able to keep the shows and movies I like without having to decide in advance if I want the Dark Knight or Annie Hall/The West Wing or Northern Exposure).

Like I said, feel free to destroy this argument; it'll save me some money if you do.

$829 is a lot of money (especially when you add in CA sales tax). I appreciate having others take a run at my logic, given the number of people who've gone with 16 or 32 GB, or just Wifi instead of 3G (I'm doing ATT because coverage is better *surprise* where I'll be living)

Especially when it comes to my primary use case ("I read a ***** ton of news and would prefer not to be in front of my computer to do so") , there must be others in here who can give feedback on how effective it is for long-term use as an "Internet consumption" device, as well as what they think of the apps I listed (whether they really are better on the iPad, etc)

I do not want to spend $1200 on a big TV. I'm perfectly content to watch movies & TV on a small screen, and the iPad is a nice compromise. (Any thoughts/comments on this use case would be welcomed)

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When I was living alone, watching movies and TV shows on my 15" MBP was more than sufficient. Shortly after my girlfriend moved in, though, we split the cost of a TV. If you hunt around enough, you can get a pretty good deal.

So, I guess what I'm saying is, if you're single, the iPad should be fine, but if you plan to watch a movie or TV with someone every night on that thing, it will get old very quickly.

As for the rest of it, I say just buy it. You obviously want one and it will be useful. There will always be money for gas and textbooks. Plus, you might be able to find digital texts cheaper on the iPad.

When I was living alone, watching movies and TV shows on my 15" MBP was more than sufficient. Shortly after my girlfriend moved in, though, we split the cost of a TV. If you hunt around enough, you can get a pretty good deal.

So, I guess what I'm saying is, if you're single, the iPad should be fine, but if you plan to watch a movie or TV with someone every night on that thing, it will get old very quickly.

As for the rest of it, I say just buy it. You obviously want one and it will be useful. There will always be money for gas and textbooks. Plus, you might be able to find digital texts cheaper on the iPad.

Click to expand...

That's a solid point. That said, being in a grad program where when I'm not taking classes I'm teaching (it's a fast-track Master of Arts in Teaching), I'll probably end up putting my dating life on hold for the time being.

When I was living alone, watching movies and TV shows on my 15" MBP was more than sufficient. Shortly after my girlfriend moved in, though, we split the cost of a TV. If you hunt around enough, you can get a pretty good deal.

So, I guess what I'm saying is, if you're single, the iPad should be fine, but if you plan to watch a movie or TV with someone every night on that thing, it will get old very quickly.

As for the rest of it, I say just buy it. You obviously want one and it will be useful. There will always be money for gas and textbooks. Plus, you might be able to find digital texts cheaper on the iPad.

Click to expand...

That's actually a really good question (whether eBooks that my school offers will work. They require Adobe Reader, so I think the answer is no) but a number of my textbooks are available through Google Books (and my kindle would suck for school as it lacks page # support.

I'm still fighting to understand why exactly you need the most expensive iPad?

And if you are tight on cash, why spend $130 extra for 3G connectivity and another subscription as you, most likely, already have a phone (sounds like an iPhone in this case) that you can tether the Wi-Fi iPad to.

Sounds like you've already made up your mind to get one. My only question is: what kind of movies/TV are you hoping to watch on it? It's not necessarily easy to get movies and shows on an Apple device unless you buy/rent them from itunes.

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